Musings from a scrap quilter and grandma about quilting and grandchildren, and whatever seems pertinent at the time.

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Simplicity

I just read something in Guideposts yesterday that seemed like a profound statement to me:
"Live Simply to help others Simply Live." It was stated by a couple in England a long time ago. They had sold their mansion and lived in a cottage a fourth of the size of their former house and they started many charities with their excess funds.
I've long been a fan of decluttering and simplifying. But that statement really made me start to think.

I'm in the process of having a little remodeling done and it means I had to clean out my large walk-in closet. When I moved in here, I thought I had decluttered, but I still seem to have more than I need and a lot of it went into my closet because I didn't have any other place to put it at the time. These two pictures are of the guest bedroom where I dumped everything from my room.

And, believe it or not, I've already sorted a large black trash bag full of clothes to go to my church -- they have regular clothing give-aways and all the stuff that's still in good condition goes to someone who needs it more than I do. I haven't finished emptying the dresser drawers or the clothes dumped into this closet - and I have an office floor with boxes of shoes that I will never wear again -- those too will be given away.
There will be nothing put back into the walk-in closet that doesn't belong in there, that I can and do wear, and that needs to be in there.

I just think it's well past the time that I live simply so others can simply live. That's my goal for now and in the future for cleaning out my house. It'll take awhile -- trust me on that one!
And that's not even talking about the fabric and quilt stuff! :-)